File photo by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Carter Olson (22) is lifted into the air by teammate Mitchell Streich (51) after scoring a touchdown in this past Saturday’s Class A State Football Tournament Semifinals game with Mahnomen/Waubun at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield avenged one loss of the past last week, defeating Mahnomen/Waubun in the Class A Football State Tournament 36-12.

This Friday, Springfield will try to replicate that as they play in a repeat of last year’s Class A State Championship game against Minneota at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Springfield lost to Mahnomen/Waubun in the 2018 state tournament semifinals, and they lost 38-21 to Minneota last season in the state title game.

Springfield head coach Adam Meyer remembers how Minneota likes to play from last season, as they have found success running the same system for many years.

“We know they excel in all phases of the game,” Meyer said. “Just like us, they play a lot of different players throughout the game. When you play Minneota, you know they are going to be disciplined, they don’t hurt themselves, they don’t turn the ball over often, and they execute at a high level. Their defense pursues the ball very, very well.

“Offensively, they have a system they have run for a long time that is built around a strong running game that can attack many different gaps and they attack in different ways to put stress on the defense.”

When it comes to slowing down Minneota, Springfield will need to win in the trenches.

“Just like any game, the line of scrimmage will be vital,” Meyer said. “Last year, on both sides of the ball I think they were getting push and that is something we need to navigate better this year. Losing the line of scrimmage is very hard to overcome regardless of what we do behind it.”

Key to the Minneota offense is junior star running back Ryan Meagher.

Meagher has 2,025 yards and 35 touchdowns on the ground this season, leading the Vikings to a 13-0 record.

Meyer believes that Meagher may be the best tailback in all of Class A football with his power and speed. Minneota then uses play action to get the ball into the hands of playmakers like Max Rost, who has 825 yards and 12 touchdowns receiving, or Sawyer DeSmet, who has 370 yards and eight TDs through the air. Under center will be quarterback Ryan Dalager, who has 1,691 yards passing and 24 touchdown passes.

Springfield found success last game in making adjustments to their competition, and Meyer was happy with how the team bounced back from a relatively low-scoring game against Fillmore Central in the opening round of the state tournament.

“I was very pleased with how clean we played in all aspects of the game,” Meyer said. “I thought our special teams played the best game they have all season, especially our kickoff and punt coverage teams. I was also very pleased that we continued to put ourselves in good positions offensively where we could stay aggressive in the first half and build a lead that would put pressure on their offense to score points fairly quickly, which isn’t something they are comfortable with in the style they run. Defensively we also put them in positions that were predictable and allowed our defensive backs to key on the pass and it led to some game changing plays and turnovers.”

Meyer believes that if his team continues to play like they did last week, they have a good shot at coming away with the state title.

“I think the intensity and efficiency we played with last week, particularly in the first half, shows the level of play we’re capable of,” he said. “I’ve been very impressed with the focus of our guys throughout the playoffs.”

DOMINANT DEFENSIVE RUN

That defense has been very important for the team during this season’s playoff run. While the team has a pass-heavy offensive identity, with quarterback Jakob Nachreiner passing for his 52nd touchdown on the year last game, the defense has stolen the show for the postseason, not allowing more than 18 points during the section or state tournament.

Meyer said that the team’s success on defense is due to the hard work and preparation the team puts into each weekly matchup.

“Our defense has been very stingy all season,” Meyer said. “Our starting defense has been very tough to score on, especially when we put other teams in the position that they need to drive the ball the length of the field. Our defensive coaching staff, led by [coach] Brandon Wilhelmi, does a great job of scouting each team and preparing our kids to play at a high level. We also have a great leader in the middle in Ashton Toll that gets everyone on the same page and is probably the best communicator at the high school level I have been around.

“I think the trademark of our defense has been the pursuit to the football throughout the year. More often than not, you’ll see a group of players at the football instead of just one or two guys making a play. Our players have also done a great job of adapting our defense and being able to play multiple fronts and coverages.”

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP VIBES

The last time the Tigers won a state football tournament was in 2005, when Springfield defeated Goodhue 21-16. Springfield was unranked during last season’s tournament run, with its appearance in the state championship considered somewhat of an upset by many. This season, however, the team came in with more of an expectation to make it where they are today, and Meyer feels that expectation in the locker room.

“I think last year was a little bit of a surprise to a lot of people, we probably weren’t the popular pick going into the season to make the state tournament or advance as far as we did,” he said. “This year, there was a little more pressure and expectation that comes with the run we had last year and how we could potentially repeat it. I still feel the same excitement about making it this far within our team, school, and community which I think is important, these runs should be celebrated.

“The biggest lesson from a year ago is just the routine that we want to establish and it gets rid of the shock factor a little bit of playing in a stadium like U.S. Bank and getting used to TV timeouts and all the ‘extra’ things that come with playing in the state tournament and especially the Prep Bowl.”

THE OTHER SIDE

After Minneota’s dominant 63-6 semifinals win over Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa this past Friday, Vikings head coach Chad Johnston said the Tigers are similar in many areas to what the Vikings have seen so far this state tournament run.

“They actually are a fairly similar style that we’ve seen in the last couple games as far as from an offensive standpoint,” Johnston said of Springfield. “They obviously have a lot of experience back from last year, they’ve got a good mixture of athleticism, they’ve got size, they’ve got speed and they execute what they do very, very well. We do lose a little bit of an advantage that we had against Braham and [against BBE], where these teams that don’t typically see us, kind of struggle with the complexity of our offense.

“Springfield’s got a year underneath their belt, they can go back and look at last year, what worked, what didn’t work. So, it was one of the things that we talked about in our team huddle was, ‘They want to prove something. They were here with us last year, we were able to get them, they want to be the team to knock you off.’ We better be ready to go, we’ve got practice this week and it should be a good football game.”

INJURY REPORT

Last week, WR/DB Brayden Sturm was used in a limited fashion, mostly in his offensive role, after suffering a leg injury the previous week, while kicker Kade Nachreiner was cleared to return last week. This week, Meyer believes his team should be operating at full strength.